Learning to Walk
Nov 11, 2020I was looking through my phone this week, trying to erase some videos so I don't continue to receive the dreaded "There is not enough available storage to take the photo" message🤦♀️
I came across an old video of my daughter taking her first steps.
This is always a BIG moment for parents... and every time I have watched (and filmed) this moment with my 4 children... it reminds me how amazing the human brain is… 🧠👌👏
For each of my children the process of learning to walk was exciting… they all tried over and over again until they achieved their goal. It was weeks of falling and getting back up... and even before that it was weeks of standing and holding onto furniture...and before that there was crawling...it is such a long journey!
But...not once did any of them throw their arms up in frustration and say “this is too hard” (not that they can talk at that age… but you get the idea)😉.
The ‘I can’t do it’ attitude is something that creeps in as we get older… we become afraid of failing, are averse to hard work and struggle... we want to do things that are easy, and feel safe…😌
Over the years I have loved sharing my "First Steps" videos with teachers and students because I think they are a perfect example of the learning process in action.
In this video you can see that my daughter:
- Persisted and never gave up, and because of that she learnt to walk. 🙌
- Made mistakes, but she brushed them off and learnt from them.💪
This is process that each of our students have been through... so it is something they all can relate to...
Our children need to know how important persistence is…
That mistakes are to be celebrated, as they help you learn💪
So this week I encourage you to show your class a video of a child learning to walk (mine if you want)... and then have a chat about how hard they worked to learn that skill… encourage them to go home and ask their parents if they have a video of their own first steps.
This is a simple way that you can reinforce the importance of persistence.
Because if you can help develop persistence in your students… this will hold them in good stead for life… particularly in maths class… where I think persistence is the number one skill students need to succeed…😉
Want to learn more from Dr Ange Rogers? Click here to find out about her 'Quality Place Value Assessment in Years 3-6 Mini Course'